Dungeon Master Forum

I have to see I find it a bit irritating that it doesn't say anywhere for us laymen who know nothing about the .txt file format, how to fix errors due to changes between versions when we load a dungeon which previously compiled normally into the editor.

As George knows, my dungeon I was working on in 0.35 suddenly threw up hundreds of errors trying to load it into the editor in 0.36 because of changes in the .txt file format, so why does the editor not "upgrade" previous version text files since the format differences are known.

I've just installed 0.38 and now I get (only 6 this time!) errors loading my dungeon as follows:

*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 773): Unknown monster attribute identifier "METHODS=(ATTACK_METHOD_MONSTER_2,ATTACK_METHOD_LIGHTNING_LARGE,NULL)". Expecting string of form NAME=(xxx), ICONS=(xxx), MAP_ICONS=(xxx), BITMAPS=(xxx), SOUNDS=(xxx), METHODS_CLOSE=(xxx), METHODS_RANGED=(xxx), METHODS_MOVEMENT=(xxx), STATS=(xxx), DAMAGED=(xxx), BODY=(xxx), CONVERT_DEATH=(xxx) or PROPERTIES=(xxx).
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 774): Unknown monster attribute identifier "METHODS=(ATTACK_METHOD_FIREBALL_MEDIUM,ATTACK_METHOD_CHOP,NULL)". Expecting string of form NAME=(xxx), ICONS=(xxx), MAP_ICONS=(xxx), BITMAPS=(xxx), SOUNDS=(xxx), METHODS_CLOSE=(xxx), METHODS_RANGED=(xxx), METHODS_MOVEMENT=(xxx), STATS=(xxx), DAMAGED=(xxx), BODY=(xxx), CONVERT_DEATH=(xxx) or PROPERTIES=(xxx).
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 775): Cloned door sound option "HIT:SOUND_THUNK" not supported. Expecting one or more of OPEN:sss, HIT_BY_FORCE:sss, HIT_BY_BLUNT:sss, HIT_BY_SHARP:sss, HIT_BY_SKILL:sss, HIT_BY_SMITE:sss, HIT_BY_MAGIC:sss, HIT_BY_GHOST:sss, HIT_BY_FIRE:sss, HIT_BY_LIGHT:sss, HIT_BY_POISON:sss or HIT_BY_DESEW:sss, where sss is a sound Unique Identifier.
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 780): Unknown monster attribute identifier "METHODS=(ATTACK_METHOD_MONSTER_2,NULL,NULL)". Expecting string of form NAME=(xxx), ICONS=(xxx), MAP_ICONS=(xxx), BITMAPS=(xxx), SOUNDS=(xxx), METHODS_CLOSE=(xxx), METHODS_RANGED=(xxx), METHODS_MOVEMENT=(xxx), STATS=(xxx), DAMAGED=(xxx), BODY=(xxx), CONVERT_DEATH=(xxx) or PROPERTIES=(xxx).
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 785): Unknown monster attribute identifier "METHODS=(ATTACK_METHOD_MONSTER_2,NULL,NULL)". Expecting string of form NAME=(xxx), ICONS=(xxx), MAP_ICONS=(xxx), BITMAPS=(xxx), SOUNDS=(xxx), METHODS_CLOSE=(xxx), METHODS_RANGED=(xxx), METHODS_MOVEMENT=(xxx), STATS=(xxx), DAMAGED=(xxx), BODY=(xxx), CONVERT_DEATH=(xxx) or PROPERTIES=(xxx).
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 786): Unknown monster attribute identifier "METHODS=(ATTACK_METHOD_STEAL,ATTACK_METHOD_MONSTER_2,NULL)". Expecting string of form NAME=(xxx), ICONS=(xxx), MAP_ICONS=(xxx), BITMAPS=(xxx), SOUNDS=(xxx), METHODS_CLOSE=(xxx), METHODS_RANGED=(xxx), METHODS_MOVEMENT=(xxx), STATS=(xxx), DAMAGED=(xxx), BODY=(xxx), CONVERT_DEATH=(xxx) or PROPERTIES=(xxx).
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 821): Unknown monster attribute identifier "METHODS=(ATTACK_METHOD_MONSTER_5,NULL,NULL)". Expecting string of form NAME=(xxx), ICONS=(xxx), MAP_ICONS=(xxx), BITMAPS=(xxx), SOUNDS=(xxx), METHODS_CLOSE=(xxx), METHODS_RANGED=(xxx), METHODS_MOVEMENT=(xxx), STATS=(xxx), DAMAGED=(xxx), BODY=(xxx), CONVERT_DEATH=(xxx) or PROPERTIES=(xxx).

So what changes do I have to manually make to the .txt file now so it will load?

For the monster errors; on the lines indicated, change the bit that says "METHODS=(" to "METHODS_CLOSE=(" and it should just work.

(BTW - the reason for this is because you can now specify different attack methods for close / ranged and movement attacks)

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For the door error; on the line indicated, change the bit that says "HIT:SOUND_THUNK" to "HIT_BY_FORCE:SOUND_THUNK,HIT_BY_BLUNT:SOUND_THUNK,HIT_BY_SHARP:SOUND_THUNK".

(BTW - the reason for this is that you can now specify different sounds depending on what the door was hit by)

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Sorry for the changes in the format - most of them are back-compatible for reading and will write out in the new format (e.g. the changes to the way characters are specified), but it looks like I've missed a couple this time.

Cheers,

Don't apologise for changes in the format, without them new features wouldn't come along so often!
I just think the editor should be able to load at least the previous dungeon format and save in the new format. It sounds as though this is the intention but you just missed something, in which case fantastic (in the words of Chris Ecclestone!)

Some converter tool would come in handy here.

dunno if it can help but... when i get a new version of RTC, i first try to load the dungeon in the editor, ignore the errors (if RTCed doesn't crash ) and save the dungeon as is, with another name of course.
sometimes it works